Friday, December 26, 2008

SUMMERVILLE â" Town Council is ready to approve plans for 930 new houses, setting off another round of high-stakes arguments over growth in a declining economy. Pine Trace would be built on 332 acres behind the S.C. Coastal Rehabilitation Center on Miles Jamison Road. Construction wouldn't start for two years, assuming the market picks up again by then, but the developer and town officials are hoping for the best and moving ahead. It's not good news to residents who live near the proposed project. They've been turning out en masse to fight it.

Homeless Army veteran David Platt remembers spending Christmas 1981 in the bitter cold of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. It was the first time the South Carolina native had seen snow, so he used it to kick-start his imagination, dreaming of Christmas back home.

Charleston police have arrested a Georgia man on charges of shooting his wife to death early Christmas morning while the couple were visiting relatives in the downtown area. Bobby Sloan, 60, of Forest Park, Ga., was charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

As Charleston County's Board of Elections and Voter Registration recently discussed the Nov. 4 election, board member June Smith noted the heavy turnout of college voters and observed, "They could just as easily have voted here and voted absentee in their own state." She's right, election officials say, but it's unclear how many, if any, did vote twice.

Four sea turtles stunned by the sudden cold off North Carolina were rushed to the South Carolina Aquarium recently, crowding its already full rehabilitation hospital. A dozen turtles are being treated, a record number. The new arrivals, two loggerheads and two green sea turtles, have maxed out the facility. Turtles are sharing tanks, shunted over to back-up tanks with improvised water circulation.